Showing posts with label Scouting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scouting. Show all posts

Friday, August 1, 2014

Field Trip to Provo

The older my kids get the more disenchanted I am becoming with public school.  I had no troubles pulling Graham out from class yesterday for a few hours in order for him to go and earn a merit badge.  
Brigham Young University isn't too far from us and often offers really cool opportunities for scouts to earn merit badges in different fields.  The Museum of Peoples and Cultures had one for Archaeology yesterday that we signed up for.
The boys watched a short slide show and then they had the scouts participate in a mock dig!  How cool is that?  
Graham really enjoyed it and I enjoyed wandering around the BYU bookstore for a few hours by myself.  I even stopped to get my haircut...which was random but I am about 3 months overdue for one (very long story, but my friend who does my hair has cancer.)  A lovely girl named Aimee at Salon 1030 came to my rescue and gave me a simple trim.  For FOURTEEN DOLLARS. 
What?  I walked out of there super happy, feeling college girl cute and was frugal to boot.  Win win win! 
I picked the boys up and we went straight to the Bean Museum to show Graham's friend the Liger. 

 I remember watching Napoleon Dynamite thinking she made that up.  Oh no friends, it's real and we saw it!
Meet Shast, the Liger.

We zipped over to the BYU Creamery where we were engulfed in a sea of EFY attendees on their break.  They treated Graham and Luke like rock stars high fiving the boys and saying things like "Boys Scouts are Awesome!"  I don't think they minded one bit. Can't wait to send my kids to EFY on campus in a year or two!

We had a great time!  I'm now looking for other places to earn merit badges like this, they really made it quick, easy but very informative for the kids!  

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Dinner

We had our Cub Scout pack Blue and Gold Dinner a few weeks ago and I *think* everyone had a great time?!   I know we did but I was TIRED when it was done!  
You plan a dinner for 80 people with $100 as your budget and tell me how tired you are afterwards! ;)

I decided on a Western BBQ theme this year with my friend Natalie of Natty Sue Designs making up the darling invites. 
Thankfully some great ladies came and helped us set up and of course now I am wishing I took more pictures.

We had a great potluck buffet...
 We served BBQ shredded chicken on buns, baked beans, cornbread, chips and cole slaw with lemonade.  
This lovely table decided to have a leg collapse on us and all the food went sliding down down down. 

It was a Cub Scout Miracle that not a drop of food was spilled and everything landed upright on the floor!  We are talking big crock pots of bbq chicken people!  Crazy!

 
My lovely homemade fire and barbed wire that I copied from a darling website...as soon as I find the link I'll post it!
 
My favorite part of the evening is handing out leader awards! 
I am SO very grateful for all the den leaders who meet with these boys each week...they are amazing!
 The "Golden Pear" awards for our two great Wolf Den couples (we have 2 Wolf dens right now.
 The "Big Picture" award went to our Bishop!
 The "Wet Sponge" award went to our very very new Primary President.  You know, the one who has a boy but he's not even walking yet so Scouts is a whole new language?  That one! :)
 The "Helping Hand" award
 The "On the Ball" award
 The "Megaphone" award to our quiet leader who is super great with the boys!
 The "Cheerleader" award went to our just released Primary President! 
 The "Plunged Right In" award for our new counselor over Scouting
The "Link to Scouting" for one of our two amazing Webelos leaders!
 I gave Dan (the CubMaster) the "MindBender" award.  Like I said, he is overwhelmed, over talked and bewildered by all the women he has to deal with and still does amazing.  He is SUCH a great help to me and I love working with my husband in this calling!
 The "Bleeding Blue" award for our Primary counselor who has been in Scouts the longest!
 Here is the main cake I made....never, EVER again.  I'll stick to birthday cakes.  I started making something else and decided to go the easier route....so it's 8 (8x8) cakes stacked together.  What a mess. There were a few side cakes with stars on them as well.  Because I over plan and over bake.  I get worried that it's not going to be enough!
 Some of the decorations.  I kept it simple.  Dan put together some classic cowboy music to have playing in the background which was fun....think Johnny Cash and The Statler Brothers!
 We played a fun game afterwards with a rocking horse up on a table at the back of the room and the boys had to "lasso" the horse with a hula hoop.  This kept the kids busy for a long time!

We also had a fantastic video playing that my friend Teresa made showing pictures of the past year in our pack! 

 Me being a cranky outlaw....
 Graham being a nonchalant outlaw...
 Greg being a rough and tumble outlaw....this cost me $6 at the party store and I couldn't keep the kids away from it!
 Dan was sweet and presented me with flowers to thank me.  
I like being the Cub Comm Chair but it's a LOT of time and effort.  I'm happy to do it to make the program be what it should be for Graham who is now in and Greg who will be a Cub Scout before I know it!  
It makes a difference when you are doing something that you know will benefit your own children and their cute friends!

Thankfully though, the Blue and Gold is only once a year!